


Be My Eyes

by fenfyre (Jace)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blind Character, M/M, Physical Disability, blind!lance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-22
Updated: 2017-10-22
Packaged: 2019-01-21 13:07:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12458418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jace/pseuds/fenfyre
Summary: When Shiro signed up for an app that lets him assist blind people with every day problems he didn't expect to meet Lance or that he wouldn't be able to get the pretty, bubbly boy out of his head.





	Be My Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> For tami
> 
> Also posted on my tumblr: [fenfyre](https://fenfyre.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Find more information about the app Be My Eyes [here](http://bemyeyes.com/)

Shiro had just finished up with his last client for the day, a sweet elementary school teacher in her forties who needed some help getting back on her feet after a riding accident, and was headed for his car when he heard the cheerful instrumental music of his ringtone.  
Half-expecting it to be Allura, calling to ask if he could drop by the practice for a few minutes before heading home, he was surprised to see a different notification on the screen as he pulled the phone from the duffel bag slung over his shoulder.

Curious who might need his help today Shiro accepted the call and after a few seconds the face of a young man popped up on his screen.  
He was handsome, with his tousled dark hair and tan skin, a smattering of tiny freckles decorating the bridge of his nose and his finely cut cheeks. The most striking of his elegant features though were his eyes, overcast with a milky haze but the edges of his irises rimmed with a deep ocean blue.

“Hey, I’m Lance”, the man said with a wide smile, showing off a row of perfect, pearly teeth. “Thanks for accepting the call, I’ll only need you for a minute.”  
Shiro swallowed as he came to a stop next to his car. It wasn’t often that he saw the faces of the people who called him over the app. They usually just showed him whatever they needed help with and that was fine, that was what the app was for, after all. But actually seeing who he was talking to, knowing the other man’s name, that was a nice change of pace. 

“Yeah, no problem”, he mumbled after another second, barely managing not to get lost in that warm smile. “I’m Shiro. What can I help you with?” Opening his trunk he let the heavy duffel bag fall into it before he slammed the lid shut and leaned back against his car.  
“Shiro, huh? That’s pretty unique, sounds nice.” Shifting his attention to the screen he saw Lance show him his surroundings, shelves stocked with bread and boxes of rice and pasta.  
“Anyway, I’m at the supermarket and I’m having some problems picking out the right spices. Usually I’d just smell them but, you know, they’re sealed and all...”

“I see”, Shiro nodded, unable to keep away the smirk sneaking onto his lips as he watched the way Lance gesticulated, pointing at the shelves and rolling his eyes like the store’s packaging policy existed solely to spite him.  
“I know man, that’s why I called you. No need to brag about it, though.”  
It took a moment but then a laugh bubbled up in his chest and Shiro let it out, enjoying the way Lance’s expression softened as he rolled his eyes again at the reaction to his lame joke. 

“Alright, spices”, Shiro finally nodded, bringing them back on track. “Show me what we’re working with.”  
Lance let out a hum and fumbled with the phone for a second before managing to flip it around to point the camera at the shelf filled with different kinds of spices. A tan hand came up to wander along a row of neatly stacked tins with colourfully printed labels.  
“I like to use these ones”, Lance explained. “And I’m looking for oregano, caraway and green pepper, unground please.”

Shiro let out a surprised noise, thinking back to his own spice rack at home that he’d never even tried filling up with things like green pepper and caraway. But then he remembered he was supposed to help and actually started doing his job.  
“Oregano is the second one from the left”, he began and watched Lance find and pick up the right tin with an easy elegance. “Now can you show me the row above?”  
Like that they worked through locating the other two spices Lance had asked for, having to adjust the camera sometimes and going back and forth more than once when Shiro couldn’t spot the right tin during one of Lance’s slow sweeps of the shelf.  
But in the end they managed and Lance placed the three tins in his shopping basket before turning the camera back towards his face. 

“Ah, you’re a lifesaver, Shiro”, he smiled again and Shiro could feel his heart melt at the sight, wondering for a brief second if Lance even knew how gorgeous he was. He probably did, right? With a face and a smile like that all kinds of people flirted with him, Shiro was sure about that.  
“It’s nothing”, he mumbled back, embarrassed to feel his cheeks heat up at the honest gratitude in Lance’s voice. “Glad I could hep.”  
“Glad I could talk to someone as nice as you”, Lance chirped back with a casual shrug and a light playfulness in his tone that made Shiro’s heartbeat stutter. “Hunting down a store clerk is a pain and most of them are so awkward around me … anyway, I stole enough of your time. Thanks again!”

“As I said, no problem.” Someone like Lance could steal as much of his time as he pleased. Shiro was almost sad this would probably stay a one time thing. Even if they both kept using the app, the network was so vast the chances of them getting connected again were very slim. But instead of letting that fact ruin his mood Shiro drank in the view of Lance’s pretty face for as long as he could. The pointed nose and defined jawline, the dimples in his cheeks when his smile widened.  
“Have a nice day, Lance.”  
The other man hummed and bit his lip, a tiny gesture that seemed oddly coy but still so very endearing.  
“You too. Bye, Shiro.”

“Goodbye.”  
Lance’s smiling face stayed on his phone for another second or two, then the connection broke off and Shiro was left to stare down at the app menu until his screen turned black.

~

Weeks passed and Shiro answered a handful of calls over the app, but all the people he talked to and helped were strangers. Polite and pleasant men and women, sure. Still he couldn’t help but feel a pang of disappointment each time he accepted a call and it wasn’t Lance smiling at him from his screen.  
Shiro knew it wasn’t realistic to hope he’d get connected to the handsome young man again and that he should stop his heart from skipping a beat each and every time he saw the notification pop up on his phone. Besides, he’d talked to Lance for all of five minutes maybe and this was getting pathetic, even by his standards.  
But then again, could he really blame himself for a tiny crush on a pretty, bubbly boy with a nice smile? Was it that bad to hope he could talk to him again? 

No. Shiro could forgive that little weakness of himself. It wasn’t like Lance, or anyone for that matter, would ever find out about it. Like there was actually a chance of them ever connecting again.  
Or at least that’s what he thought until a sunny afternoon in early fall.

Shiro had just settled down for a late lunch between appointments when his phone rang. Seeing the app notification still made his heart stutter but he didn’t really expect anything special as he accepted the call with one hand, stuffing a forkful of salad into his mouth with the other.  
The first thing he saw was a wide, toothy smile, tan skin, milky eyes ringed with blue.  
“Hey, I’m Lance!”, came the familiar introduction and Shiro felt his stupid heartbeat pick up. God, he was beautiful. “Thanks for accepting the call, I’ll make it quick!”

“Oh, please. Take your time”, Shiro smirked and revelled in the confusion passing over Lance’s face before it lit up with recognition.  
“Shiro, is that you?” That sounded way too excited for Shiro’s stupid, gay heart to handle and he sucked his lower lip into his mouth, tasting sour salad dressing. He had to look away from his phone for a moment, eyes landing on a nurse pushing a patient in a wheelchair down the wide path through the hospital park.  
“You remember”, he said after his short pause, having to force himself to look back at the screen, back at Lance’s unfairly happy, pretty face. 

“Of course I do! You have a really nice voice.” Now it was Lance’s turn to bite his lip, a coy little gesture that made him look flirty and playful and that Shiro could not handle. At all.  
And what was that about his voice? Had Lance just given him a compliment? That was not part of the plan, not part of any of the embarrassing daydreams Shiro’d had about talking to this man again. But here they were, Lance complimenting him, making him blush and fumble and almost drop his lunch.

When Shiro finally managed to find his voice again it still sounded a bit strained.  
“What, uhm … what can I help you with?”  
“Right...”, Lance answered, somewhat off-balance himself after the long pause. He bounced back quickly though, that smile spreading across his face. “I’m at my office and I dropped something. It’s a little red ball, fits in one hand?”  
“Alright.” Shiro cleared his throat just for good measure before continuing. “Show me around.”

Lance’s office looked nice, big windows and bold, colourful paintings, shelves filled with binders and boxes labelled in both letters and braille, a small table tucked into a corner and next to it a chest overflowing with toys. Dolls and little cars and stuffed animals.  
Shiro enjoyed that little peek into Lance’s life but he soon spotted the ball he was supposed to help find.  
“It’s near the door to your left. Yes, that one...”  
Judging by the change of the camera angle Lance had crouched down and Shiro kept giving instructions until long, elegant fingers brushed the little ball and picked it up.

“Ah, there you are”, Lance mumbled as he straightened up again, walking over to the chest to put the ball inside and lower the lid. It barely closed.  
“Thanks. Don’t want anyone to trip and fall on that...”  
“No, we don’t.”  
There was a short, awkward pause and Shiro knew it was time to hang up. He’d done his job, he should say goodbye and go back to lunch. But he didn’t want to.

“So, that’s a lot of toys”, he said instead, putting a smile into the words. “For your children?” A second of silence and then Lance laughed, a soft, carefree sound that made Shiro’s heart stutter yet again.  
“For my … oh god, no.” Another laugh. The camera turned around and Shiro could see the dimples on Lance’s cheeks, the tiny wrinkles around his eyes. His phone had a great camera. “No, I don’t have children. I work with them though, I’m a speech therapist.”  
A surprised sound escaped Shiro. He hadn’t really thought about what Lance’s job might be but that sure wasn’t anything he’d ever considered.  
“That’s impressive!”, he said and realized a second later what that must have sounded like to Lance. “Sorry...”

Lance chuckled, cheeks dimpling.  
“Ah, it’s fine. A lot of people didn’t think I could do it. But … I’m good with kids and I hear pretty well when they fudge up their syllables so...”  
“I … I believe that! Sounds like a real interesting field.”  
Lance hummed his agreement with a soft, proud smile playing around his lips. 

“So what do you do?”, he asked after another pause and the simple question, probably just a polite gesture, lit a spark of excitement in Shiro’s chest. Maybe Lance didn’t want to end the call either?  
“I’m an occupational therapist.”  
“Ohhh!” Lance grinned wide and waved a hand in front of the camera. “Same industry! You also work with kids?”  
With a long-suffering, internal sigh Shiro noted the flips his heart did at the sheer amount of cuteness the other man radiated.

“Mostly adults, I’m not that great with children...”  
“Ah, that’s okay”, Lance shrugged, a crooked smirk on his lips. “Not everyone can be as amazing as I am.”  
Before Shiro could answer there was a buzzing sound on Lance’s end of the connection and then a voice said: “Lance, your 3pm is here.”  
“Oh shoot! Sorry Shiro, I gotta go. Thanks again for the help!”  
Shiro couldn’t even answer, let alone carry out his underdone plan to ask Lance for his number or something similar because the next moment Lance had already hung up on him.

~

This time around the wait was almost unbearable. Mostly because Shiro didn’t want to admit to himself that he was waiting at all. But their second conversation had given him even more hope and the things he’d gotten to know about Lance, that he was great with children, was dedicated and hard-working and compassionate, made Shiro’s useless crush even worse.  
A few times he toyed with the idea to go out and find someone to hook up with just to get that pretty smile out of his head. But he’d never liked one-night-stands and besides, after the accident it had gotten much harder to pick someone up. Most people out for a quick fuck were deterred by the prosthetic.

Not that Shiro cared too much. It had taken him years to pull himself together and get back on his feet, switch professions, become at peace with himself again. There hadn’t been much place for a relationship during that time, as focused on himself as he was, as he had to be.  
He’d always be grateful for the role Allura had played in his recovery and always regret that he hadn’t been able to offer her anything but his friendship in return. It was too late for them now, she’d found love with someone else and he was happy for them, no matter the bittersweet could-have-beens floating through his mind sometimes.  
But now that he was recovered and had reclaimed his life, found a job he enjoyed and friends he liked spending time with, it felt like he was ready for love as well.  
If only his best shot at it wasn’t an elusive, beautiful man he had no chance of contacting on his own.

It was late evening when his phone rang and Shiro dried his hand on a kitchen towel before tapping the notification.  
The last few calls had left him numb, the hope he’d only just found fading more and more every time it wasn’t Lance’s face smiling at him from his screen and even though Shiro felt his heartbeat pick up yet again he tried to shoo away the tiny flame of hope before it was snuffed out by reality.

Instead of a wide smile the screen turned black and for a moment Shiro wondered if his phone had died. But then he heard soft breathing before a familiar voice spoke up.  
“Hey, I’m Lance. Thanks for...”  
“Hey”, Shiro breathed back, having to lean against the counter to support his suddenly weakened legs. What were the chances? “Nice to talk to you again.”  
There was a soft gasp and a rustling sound of fabric, maybe clothes or bedsheets and then Lance laughed, a sound that made Shiro’s heart clench with sweet longing.  
“Shiro! Oh wow, I was wondering if I’d uh … meet you again.”

Shiro bit his lip against a happy noise. Lance had thought about him, about talking to him again. But there was something he was wondering about.  
“Is your camera broken? I can’t see anything...”  
“Oh, yeah!” Lance let out another laugh. “That’s why I called, I couldn’t remember if I turned off the light after my sister left and … I was too lazy to get back up and check the switch so … guess I know now, huh?”  
So he was in bed already and just didn’t want to get up again. The thought made Shiro smile, even though his stomach clenched nervously when he realized they’d hang up again very soon. He wouldn’t be able to stand another month or two of waiting for the next call, he had to do something, say something but before he could even open his mouth Lance was speaking again.

“But honestly, how weird is it that I talked to you three times now? That never happened to me before! You might as well just give your number at this point!” The words were accompanied by another carefree laugh, Lance was obviously joking. But it was also the perfect pass and Shiro would hate himself if he didn’t at least try. It helped that he had literally nothing to lose.  
“Would that be … very weird? If I … gave you my number?” As soon as Shiro had said it he crumbled, hiding his face behind his hand. He’d been so smooth once. Years ago. Obviously that was not like riding a bike. 

“What?”, came Lance small, wondrous reply and he sounded so cute Shiro almost whimpered. Well, he’d started this, now he had to finish it.  
“You, uhm … you just seem like a … really great and, and interesting person. To be honest I … I was hoping we could talk again and I’d uh, I’d love to get to know you better. If you want.”  
There was a stretch of silence that seemed to last forever, broken only by Lance’s breathing and the occasional rustling sound of the sheets. 

“Get to know me in like … a gay way?” Lance finally asked and there was a hint of humour in his voice that Shiro just couldn’t place. He knew there was a big chance Lance wasn’t even interested in men and that he might just have made a huge fool of himself. But it had still been worth a shot. Was still worth a shot.  
“If that’s”, he began, licking his dry lips. “If that’s what you want...”

Another stretch of silence, this one so long and unbearable Shiro let himself sink down along the counter and onto the floor, pulling both knees to his chest. Not like riding a bike at all. He felt and acted like a fumbling teenager all over again. Maybe that’s what years of only partly voluntary abstinence did to a person.  
Finally Lance talked again and when he did it was with a cheeky, flirty tone that made Shiro even more jittery.

“Shiro, can I tell you something?”  
He didn’t have the energy for more than a weak “Hm?” but it was enough.  
“I’ve been using this app five times as much as I usually do ever since I talked to you for the first time. Every time I was hoping they’d connect me to you again. So can you please just give me your number?”  
Shiro didn’t compute for a long moment. He just sat there on his kitchen floor, face in his hand, breathing. Then a laugh bubbled up from his chest and he just let it spill over, laughing freely until Lance joined him, the melodious sound of his laughter music to Shiro’s ear.  
He grinned all the way through giving Lance his number.

“Alright”, Lance smiled after he’d finished. “I’ll call you back in a minute, yeah? Then you can tell me all about how you’re not a 50-something year old pervert so my sister can sleep again at night.”  
Did … did that mean Lance had talked to his sister about Shiro? That was … adorable.  
“Sure, I’ll be waiting.”

And wait Shiro did after they hung up, seconds ticking into minutes until his anxiety flared up again and he scrambled to his feet, starting to pace through the kitchen. Had he given Lance the right number? Why hadn’t he asked for a number in turn? What if Lance was just trying to get rid of him and didn’t even intend to call? What if Shiro had creeped him out and he’d uninstall the app and they’d never speak again?

By the time his ringtone echoed through the kitchen Shiro had all but convinced himself Lance hated him. So he answered the call from an unknown number with shaking fingers.  
“Hey, I’m Lance”, came the casual drawl that made Shiro melt from the inside out, knees getting weak again. “Thanks for picking up. I’ll only need you for … hm, the rest of the night?”  
Shiro grinned, bit his lip, nodded slowly as that crushing weight of his doubts was lifted from his shoulders.  
“Sounds perfect.”


End file.
